Reborn As A Beast Queen with Too Many Husbands to Pet novel Chapter 172

Chapter 172 Great, Now Things Are Awkward Between Riven and Me

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Chapter 172 Great, Now Things Are Awkward Between Riven and Me

After all, Annelise had no way to bathe out here. She couldn’t exactly ask Riven to haul a wooden tub from home, drag it into the woods, and let her wash like that.

Riven paused, looking torn. His wild red hair hung loose around his face, and every time the wind blew from behind him, it only made Annelise’s awkwardness worse. “Just… tell me, can you do it?”

“I can, but I have to hold you. Warming your body from the outside by igniting fire is basically burning you, and now that you’ve bonded me, I can’t burn you. So it’d be pointless. If I’m holding you, I can heat my own body and warm you at the same time, and you won’t feel like you’re being scorched.”

“Oh, um…”

So, hugging, huh? No wonder Riven hesitated. This really is awkward.

“How… How are we doing this?” Annelise asked.

Riven pressed his lips together, then slowly stepped up to her. He wrapped his arms around her and said, “Well… like this.”

Annelise’s face instantly went up in flames, and her heart thudded wildly. Riven’s whole body, too, went rigid.

Oh God, this is becoming even more awkward!

She could feel her own heartbeat-and Riven’s. He wasn’t especially muscular in the front toned enough, though his back looked great. Probably all that flying.

For the first time, their hearts were practically touching.

That aside, Annelise had no idea what to do with her hands. Was she supposed to put them at her sides? But that’d just make her stiff. She couldn’t exactly wrap her arms around Riven’s waist either. More than that, he was warm-her whole face was burning.

She couldn’t help asking, “Um… Riven, did you already start igniting?”

“No.”

“N-No? Why’s my face so warm then?”

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Chapter 172 Great, Now Things Are Awkward Between Riven and Me

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Curious, she reached for her cheek, but Riven spoke before she could do so. “I was still waiting to hear if you were okay with this kind of embrace.”

“You’re already hugging me, aren’t you? Hurry up-burn off whatever virus I’m carrying so I can go home without infecting anyone. Especially Evan.”

Only then did Riven ignite fully-instantly, all at once.

From Annelise’s vantage point, looking up at him, she realized Riven’s chin was a little sharp, and when he wasn’t wearing his usual fierce, arrogant, troublemaker expression, his face was actually quite delicate. His pale lips were pressed together, making him look serious.

The flames rising around them didn’t burn her at all. They were warm-comforting, even. It felt almost like standing under a red night sky, just without the stars.

Before long, the flames faded, and Annelise’s little “warm hug session” was over.

Riven said nothing. But when Annelise stepped out of that warm embrace, she actually felt a chill, especially when the cold wind blew past.

“Do you need me to take you back?” Riven asked.

She knew he meant flying. Annelise shook her head. “I want to walk the route and look for unusual herbs. I’m going to need a lot of medicine this time, and my hydroponics setup might not be enough. I need to find areas with less snow and dig up the ones I used before.”

And so Annelise walked, and Riven silently followed behind her.

She had no idea whether he was trying to protect her or what. But the two of them moving silence like this felt terrible. Every time she took two steps and paused, Riven took two st and paused, clearly staying within a fixed distance to watch over her.

Is Riven planning to follow me all the way home? Or is he going to drop me at the door and vanish again?

As she pondered, Snowball came racing over.

“Annelise! Annelise! Trouble! The cubs in the eastern part of the tribe-they’re showing pox plague too!”

“The east?”

Annelise had questioned the High Priest that morning, and she had spoken to every cub. None of the edge-area cubs had been to the east. And it was the High Priest’s first time visiting the edge area that day-he couldn’t have carried anything back. The timelines just didn’t match;

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14:38 Fri, Feb 27

Chapter 172 Great, Now Things Are Awkward Between Riven and Me

exposure to symptoms wouldn’t show up instantly.

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